The present invention relates generally to the field of electrical storage batteries, and more particularly, to such batteries having a housing and a plurality of rectangular cell assembly modules which are electrically connected to one another.
Electrical storage batteries are sufficiently well known, in particular for use in vehicles. Starter batteries are generally in the form of lead-acid rechargeable batteries, in which a multiplicity of electrolyte plates are held in a plastic housing which is filled with electrolyte.
Furthermore, the use of electrical storage batteries as traction batteries in vehicles is also known. Nickel metal hydride, nickel cadmium, or lithium cells are used, in particular, for this purpose.
In these storage batteries, round cells have electrode plates which are wound and are located one on top of the other. The cuboid cells have a multiplicity of rectangular electrode plates which are stacked one on top of the other, separated from one another by separators. These round cells or cuboid cells can themselves once again be combined to form cell assembly modules.
An electrical storage battery which is suitable in particular for use as a traction battery for supplying a vehicle has a multiplicity of such cells or cell assembly modules, which are arranged in a common housing. The arrangement and installation of the cell assembly modules in the housing are in this case optimized in particular for the thermal behavior in the housing.
DE 100 64 648 A1 discloses an electrical storage battery having a housing and a plurality of round cells which are electrically connected to one another. A plurality of round cells are connected in series to form a cylindrical cell assembly module, with the aid of connecting pieces. The cell assembly modules are then held by means of circular openings in a mount in the form of a disk, so that they are arranged alongside one another along a radius, leaving a cavity free in the center for cooling. This resultant tubular arrangement of cell assembly modules has electrical contact made with it and is mechanically fixed by contact plates at both ends. The entire arrangement is firmly screwed in a housing.
AT 27 667 E discloses a lead-acid rechargeable battery in which the connector strips of electrodes are mounted, by means of a shock-absorbing element, on the base of the cell vessel. This reduces the sensitivity of lead-acid rechargeable batteries to shocks.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,014,949 B2 discloses a battery pack having a plurality of cylindrical lithium-ion rechargeable battery cells, which are held in a rectangular housing. Vibration-damping materials are applied to the eight corners, the narrow face edges or the upper and lower faces of the housing.
JP 2003 25 7391 A discloses a battery pack having a multiplicity of cells which are mounted in the battery pack by vibration-damping means, for example springs. For vehicle applications in particular, the individual cells and cell assembly modules of electrochemical storage batteries must withstand the environmental conditions throughout the life of the vehicle. In this case, inter alia, the storage batteries must be able to absorb the vibration, oscillations, shocks and impacts transmitted through the vehicle, without being damaged. At the same time, forces and geometric changes that occur, for example those which can occur as a result of the internal pressure in the cells or cell assembly modules or as a result of temperature-dependent geometric changes, must be tolerable, and it must be possible to cope with them reliably. In addition, it must be possible to cope with manufacturing tolerances, that is to say dimensional differences between the components, during assembly, so as to allow the individual components to be accommodated and secured reliably.